Hot on the heels of unveiling an SUV concept at the New York Auto Show, Genesis says it wants to established itself as a credible brand to rival Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.

Speaking about the company in New York, Genesis boss Manfred Fitzgerald told Car Advice that establishing the brand is his number one priority and even more important than profitability in the short term.

“It’s about establishing a brand, establishing a credible brand. We are in here definitely not to lose money, but I couldn’t tell you [about volume expectations] because it’s not our priority.

“Because if I was thinking about that it would be something distracting and what might have caused the wrong answers to some of the questions here, so we are focused on showing our competence in design and also what we can deliver to the customer in terms of service and experience,” Fitzgerald said.

The luxury arm of Hyundai that’s now its own brand, has bold ambitions for the future and is planning to add two SUVs, a small sedan and a sports coupe to its range by 2020.

“All the other competitors are looking to enlarge their portfolio and having more volume, we are not there yet, we are only 15m old and that should give you an idea of what our goals are for the mid-term and long-term and just right now to be recognised as a true competitor, as a credible competitor and that is what we are trying to do right now,” Fitzgerald said of Genesis’ model expansion.

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